Our peer-reviewed open-access journal offers a forum for researchers, university teachers, academic and professional experts, on which studies and research reports of social scientists are published in the fields of sociology, social policy, political science, economics, ethnography, history and anthropology, next to each other and reflecting on each other’s performance. Recently, there has been an increasing demand among social scientists to learn about the results of the representatives of similar and shared fields of research and, to discover new research pathways, interests, and performances of the academic world besides the narrow professional boundaries. Our journal offers such a professional and scientific space for Hungarian and international academics.

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List of papers submitted in English

The types and consequences of coping strategies

PhD. LUCÍA MARTÍNEZ VIRTO

The impact of the crisis in Spain helped to harden the difficulties of a large number of households in Spain. Even though these conditions had a widespread impact, it has been more acute in families that prior to the crisis were dealing with difficult situations. The main objective of this paper is to identify strategies the households developed in order to face these difficulties. The results have been selected from a qualitative analysis of 34 excluded household´s life stories. From this analysis two interesting results were obtained: On the one hand, households have developed prevention and survival strategies. On the other hand, the study identifies the consequences of the strategies and their impact in terms of household´s social integration. With all the results, the paper invites to reflect on the limits of survival strategies.

ALBERT, FRUZSINA – DÁVID, BEÁTA

Our paper aims to demonstrate that social structure has significant impact on the formation of interpersonal relations. We review and analyse the characteristics of ego-centric interpersonal networks of Hungarians based on data from nationally representative adult population surveys between the mid-1980’s up to 2015. We focus especially on core discussion networks, friendship ties and weak ties and analyse how the transition to market economy influenced interpersonal relationships. As expected, the large-scale social changes brought about by the transition changed interpersonal networks as well. During the first decade of the transition (in the 1990’s) one could not witness a significant change of personal networks, nonetheless the adaptation process was easier for people supported by strong, traditional family ties. Non-kin ties, especially friendships seem to gain significance at the expense of kin relationships. Overall, resources available through weak ties seem to be decreasing.

Between Scylla and Charybdis

TAKÁCS IZOLDA

This present study aims to provide a comprehensive representation of the Hungarian aspects of academic membership for women, based on the contribution of valuable insight from researchers and academics while also listing the possible opportunities and tools that might be of help for raising the proportion of female academics in our country. The study summarizes their voices articulated on the pages of Magyar Tudomány [Hungarian Science].

TROY B. WIWCZAROSKI – BORKA RICHTER

Soft skills development workshops can serve multinational organizations towards the improvement of internal communication between employees of various language backgrounds attempting to collaborate on tasks and issues in performing their daily activities. Employer and management expectations of these workshops may not be consistent with those of employees and this gap can lead to employee pushback and even refusal to internalise and utilise the envisioned workshop key learning points that management wants them to develop. On the bases of years of professional experience as co-trainers holding soft skills development workshops and receiving employer and employee feedback on their work at dozens of multinational companies in Europe, the authors discuss critical milestones which must be met by management, in order to lay the groundwork for more successful soft skills workshops at their organisations.

ERIC BECKETT WEAVER

Throughout the campaign and following the elections of 2016, the two major political parties cherished stories about what happened, and why it happened. Some of these stories have some basis in fact, while others are completely mythical, and nevertheless believed. These stories, or myths, arise from the political desires and belief systems of those who tell them. In what follows we will examine these stories in the lights of the facts.

RITA SZABOOVA

In the presented book, Dr Czibere Ibolya explicitly deals with the issue of poverty in general but also with reference to female poverty in particular. On the basis of her research, the author tries to address the issues related to gender differences, as well as the hardships of women who experience their poverty or, more precisely, how they assess their situation compared to that of men. The main theme of the book is approached through a variety of situations in the lives of women who have found themselves facing poverty in the past as well as today. Because of these facts and reasons, the reviewed publication coincides with the current discussions related to many historical and social areas. The described issue is still relevant, especially given the current social development and political situation. The author of the scientific monograph manages to select highly current issues related to social work both in Hungary and Slovakia, as well as in many other countries of the world. The issue of women’s poverty appears to play a significant role in our part of the world. To tackle this complex issue, the author formulates a goal that is relatively difficult to reach – to identify and characterise the factors and conditions underlying the development of women’s poverty in society. This way, the author makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing systematisation of the existing theory and practice focusing on the theoretical and methodological aspects of the issue, as well to the state of the art in the field. The publication not only accumulates a lot of relevant information, but also meets the goals set at the start of the research.

ERZSÉBET TAKÁCS

This paper is based on interviews with 17 people who work in various fields of health care1. The focus of the research wasthe old and new power mechanisms that are interwoven into health care institutions, doctor-patient relationships, victimization and autonomy.2 The most important theoretical background is Dominique Memmi’s research on delegated biopolitics (Memmi 2003, 2010, 2011, 2012a, 2012b) and François Dubet’s notion of institutional programme (Dubet 2002; Takács 2012). I intend to tackle the current context of health care along the lines of the literature on ‘contemporary patient’ (patients contemporains) (Bureau – Hermann - Mesfen 2014; Pierron 2007; Ménoret 2015) and in terms of Hungarian literature, Éva Orosz’s, Zsuzsanna Szántó’s, Éva Susánszky’s works (Orosz 2000, 2009; Szántó – Susánszky 2003, 2006) as well as TÁRKI and KSH surveys are my primary resources (p. ex. Janky 2010; KSH 2010).

The study presents through international examples of how the security and quality of life of elderly and disabled people can be enhanced. 12 partners in eight Central European countries carried out pilot activities within the framework of the HELPS project. The aim of this international project is to contribute to the decrease of the social exclusion of elderly, and to elaborate practises through which seniors would not be constraint to institutional care, and can live in their homes on a longer term. The study presents the outcomes of these pilots and the ensuing primary experiences. The presented innovative solutions offer possibilities in various fields (housing, services, career, practises, information of relatives) for the home care of elderly and people living with disabilities. Prior to the elaboration and put into practice of the development ideas and plans, the partners evaluated the health care system and related services offered to elderly and disabled people in their homeland. The analyses revealed those shortage areas, where further developments would increase the possibility to keep and care for the target group in their homes.

KEYWORDS: elderly people in the society, active ageing, innovations in care for elderly, home care, social services for elderly

EDIT SCHRANZ

What happens if among the members of a society and among the smaller and larger units and groups making up the society trust and confidence seems to be disappearing at once? What happens if confidence reposed into each other fall victim to social differences as well as to the economic / cost-of-living boxing of modern information society? How to stop the crisis symptom that seems to be developing this way and which is shown in the fragmentation of communities?1 With other words, is it possible to “stick again together” a community or even a whole society started to disintegrate? The questions, even if not so characteristically phrased, provide sociologists actually with the scope of understanding our modern, individualistic world (Habermas 1994). Gusfield (1975) depicts dichotomy of community and society in a way that we should interpret community as a pervading, significant contrast. By now literature seems as if it was only be able to picture the changes taking place in the images both of the society and community describing them by even more pronounced, contradictory processes. The changes that send messages on the disintegration of categories and frames becoming insecure instead of the security and integration quasi missed by Habermas. It also seems as if—quasi as an answer given to this process—occlusion/seclusion both on the part of community members and the various communities from the seemingly unknown and insecure changes were more intensive (Légmán 2012). We intend to construe these phenomena on the next pages, but due to extension limits without the need for completeness of social interpretations. We want to do it with the help of mainly one dimension: value preference through the example of a given society, namely the Hungarian one. Thus we get to the stability and the solidarity of the members of the smallest unit of society, one which accepts and expresses various value preferences, the family.

ANITA BURGUND – ANDREA RÁCZ

Last two decades there has been an increase in research area about youth leaving care. Until last decade of XX Century there has only been research on small scale samples describing needs and life of youth leaving care. After 1990 research which used different research technique and design start to appear in analyzes of the process of youth leaving care. This article provides a comparative overview of policies and practices regarding the transition from youth to independence and perceived differences in defining concepts, laws and outcomes of alternative care in Serbia and Hungary. In general, studies have shown that young people leaving alternative care face the risk of social exclusion and marginalization and a lack of political action directed at them as vulnerable group. Youth on care belong to unprivileged group because there is a high probability that they will become beneficiaries of the social protection system, become socially excluded but also dependent on social welfare services as adults.